The present invention pertains to vehicle mounted signaling devices and indicators directed at the operator of the vehicles. In particular, the invention is a safety system for automatically signaling an operator of a vehicle upon the operator's exiting the vehicle. The inventive system includes a sign, flag, or other indicator, exterior to the vehicle operating compartment, that requires manual resetting by the operator at a location outside the operating compartment. Deployment of the sign may be used as a reminder or alert of a required safety procedure or condition.
The prior art includes many vehicle mounted devices directing at signaling or alerting a vehicle operator. These include manual and automatic initiation. Examples include a conventional turn signal indicator light that may remind a vehicle operator of an illuminated turn signal. However, in normal operation of a motor vehicle these indicators are either automatically reset or manually reset from a location within the vehicle operating compartment and therefore cannot serve the present purposes.
Municipal utility engineers and similar workman often operate from work trucks and similar motor vehicles that are used, in part, to convey needed equipment. For example, an electrical utility engineer may operate a truck to travel to a work site and also to transport ladders and electrical test equipment needed to work on electrical power transmission lines. It is not unusual for equipment to be lost as a result of an engineer forgetting or not seeing the deployed equipment at the time the engineer leaves a work site. Similarly, other persons may be standing, or have parked other vehicles, adjacent the engineer's truck, and movement of the truck may cause damage or harm to them. Consequently, to address this problem, it is a matter of work procedure in some utility workforces to place a highly visible traffic cone adjacent a vehicle at the time of arriving at a work site. The typically required procedure is to, before leaving a work site, circle the vehicle to inspect the area and gather any equipment before placing the traffic cone back on the vehicle. The cone functions, in part, as a reminder to the engineer/operator of the vehicle. Unfortunately, in too many instances the procedure is not followed, and the traffic cone and any reminding equipment are left behind. Essentially, a traffic cone employed in this manner is not a sufficient signal to the operator.
What is needed is a more effective system to alert and remind vehicle operators of safety procedures such as to traverse around a vehicle to observe the surrounding area. Such a system ideally is deployed automatically if the operator leaves the operating compartment of the vehicle, and also requires the operator to traverse around the vehicle before leaving the site. In this way, the operator is more likely to observe any unrecovered equipment and ensure the safe movement of the vehicle. Such a system should be simple to operate, yet difficult for a vehicle operator to circumvent or thwart.